Check Drive from Live cd/usb

[The Liquidator]

Hi

A chap at work has an 18 month old laptop and win 7 is complaining about errors on the drive it can't fix. I can't guarantee it's not a virus.

From a live ubuntu/kubuntu cd or usb is there a command I can use to check the drive, to see whether there are bad parts?

Also despite installing it I can't seem to run clamtk in a live usb. Is there a command I can issue from the live environment to make clamav scan the c drive for viruses?

Thanks very much

[oshunluvr]

Re: Check Drive from Live cd/usb

Assuming there might be either problem, I can recommend Trinity Tool Kit live CD

I use regularly on machines I service. It has tools for both file and virus scan. Check it out...

[dibl]

Re: Check Drive from Live cd/usb

The Parted Magic Live CD or USB stick has a GUI-enabled smartmontools that can test the hdd media and report the SMART data.

[The Liquidator]

Re: Check Drive from Live cd/usb

I decided to give trinity a go. It certainly looks as if it is targeted at rescuing a windows system. The option to use 5 different virus scan engines is very interesting. However a tool that will do a system file check is not immediately apparent to me. Perhaps I'm not looking properly or maybe I need to drop to the command line? Any help on this part welcome. (Ps - I've not been shown the machine yet - I'm just having a play so that if I need to use the disk at least I'll look like I know what I'm doing )

[oshunluvr]

Re: Check Drive from Live cd/usb

/usr/bin/ntfsfix (8) - fix common errors and force Windows to check NTFS

is available. Although I confess I've never used it. I don't think there's an automated tool like the virus scans.

[vinnywright]

Re: Check Drive from Live cd/usb

/usr/bin/ntfsfix (8) - fix common errors and force Windows to check NTFS

is available. Although I confess I've never used it. I don't think there's an automated tool like the virus scans.

I have .................

ntfsfix is a utility that fixes some common NTFS problems. ntfsfix is NOT a Linux version of chkdsk. It only
repairs some fundamental NTFS inconsistencies, resets the NTFS journal file and schedules an NTFS consistency
check for the first boot into Windows.

and it dose do that.......schedule chkdsk to be run on the next windows boot.

sory @ The Liquidator I thought you were looking for disk checking stuff .....as in the HD it's self bad sectors and all



VINNY

[The Liquidator]

Re: Check Drive from Live cd/usb

Hi Vinny

Thanks, that was one of the potential issues I thought I was going to have to diagnose - the 3 possibilities were:

virus (one of those "your hard drive is damaged thingies" or

System file problem - causing windows to report there is a problem it cannot fix but then after reboot to boot normally (at least some of the time) or

Damage to the physical drive.

As it happened the guy never brought the thing in - he's probably formatted it - so I've now lost interest in his problem. Still, at least I've got some diagnostic software - hope I never need it

Thanks to all

[vinnywright]

Re: Check Drive from Live cd/usb

ya I bookmarked that trinity site ...it looks very interesting to me

VINNY

[oshunluvr]

Re: Check Drive from Live cd/usb

The one downside I've found to TRK is it's a live boot CD but not persistant so updates are downloaded at every boot and not saved. The dev has a valid reason for this although it escapes me at the mo.

This adds a few minutes to every use and removes the ability to have a current virus database unless the computer you're checking has a usable internet connection.

I wonder if there's a downloadable update file you could access via USB stick?

Oh well - works pretty well in any case and it's free. Cant complain...

[The Liquidator]

Re: Check Drive from Live cd/usb

My understanding is that you update when selecting the virus scanner mode due to the use of 5 different engines (4 of which aren't actually on the disk).